The Economist has a chart on views on torture which reports a disquietingly high amount of tolerance among Americans for the practice: OPINIONS on whether the use of torture should be prohibited appear to vary widely around the world. According to opinion polls conducted early in 2008 respondents in western European democracies such as Britain [Read More...]

Religious authoritarianism strikes again: Mohsen Namjoo, a singer-songwriter who has been described as the “Iranian Bob Dylan”, has been sentenced to five years in prison for recording music that “dishonours” passages from the Qur’an. The sentencing was in absentia, as Namjoo lives in Vienna. The musician was convicted for “his unconventional singing” of the Muslim [Read More...]

In reply to this post in which I contrasted my experience as an Evangelical in public high school in the secular northeast to a midwestern girl’s struggles to be an atheist in high school in the midwest, Dave Smith, Camels With Hammers’ trusty webmaster and blogger, writes: Maybe, as you mentioned, it was because I [Read More...]

Heartwrenchingly disgusting: Almost 150 women living in the Maldives face a public flogging for indulging in extra-marital sex after being convicted by the Muslim country’s conservative courts. Around 50 men also face the punishment. Earlier this month, an 18-year-old woman fainted after she was flogged 100 times having been found guilty of having sex with [Read More...]

Atheist Revolution sums up some of the facts about this mysterious, theocratic power player in Washington as covered by Bruce Wilson: Here are some details about the group worth knowing: The Family is the oldest conservative Christian organization in Washington D.C. The Family runs (but does not own) the notorious “C Street House” as a [Read More...]

This story out of Iran is nightmarish and devastating to read: He said he had been a highly regarded member of the force, and had so “impressed my superiors” that, at 18, “I was given the ‘honor’ to temporarily marry young girls before they were sentenced to death.” In the Islamic Republic it is illegal [Read More...]

Disgusting as every other time they picket a funeral. Members of Fred Phelps’s fundamentalist church are planning to picket the funeral of late pop icon Michael Jackson, according to the group’s website. For the full story on this group watch this 8 part series of videos beginning with this one: And yesterday, we saw this [Read More...]